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Poster: deadmax Date: Aug 14, 2011 5:44am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: September '73

I need some help here. I've been listening to Fall of '73 this summer and was skipping around a lot in Oct., Nov. and Dec. So I decided to go back to the beginning of the tour and listen to all the shows in order. First of all, I LOVE the aforementioned months so I was really looking forward to Sept. to see what it was/is.

The first few shows are good, the 8th is a big party. The 17th's first set is a wunderkind. The horns are present in every show but towards the end of the month they start playing the ENTIRE second set with horns. I like them with WRS and a few other songs but they ruin EVERY Eyes of the World! Martin, I'm sure, is celebrated and a "treasure" and all that but he doesn't know when to stop playing and let THEM just play. He doesn't listen to what they are doing and some of his playing sounds like someone has his gonads in a vice. Truly awful stuff at times.

Am I missing something with his playing on Eyes? Is it good? Listen to the 17th and see if you can without making a sour face when he really gets going.

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Poster: jerlouvis Date: Aug 14, 2011 11:31am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: September '73

I would have to disagree that the horns ruin every Eyes,and that Martin is a treasure,he is a decent saxophonist at best.The horn "section" experiment was a half assed attempt,for it to have been effective they needed to add another sax(either tenor or alto),trombone and a baritone sax or tuba for some bottom end.The horn arrangements for the songs on Wake of the Flood are dull,rudimentary and in need of reworking for a proper horn section.I would also think some rehearsal would be necessary. In relation to what actually took place,I think the 9/15 and 9/26 versions of Eyes are fine examples of how the horns could be incorporated into the music. The 9/15 version starts out kind of shaky,with the horns a little off and sort of sour sounding,at about 4:30 there is some great Weir rhythm playing and nice sax accents into the 3rd verse at 7:30 a horn squeal ->the happy eyes jam,with good horn comping and great drums->cool honking,band still cooking on happy eyes jam->10:15 stronger than dirt jam,good horns and killer rhythm guitars->11:00 nice full band jam->11:30 sax on top with riffing guitars and strong Billy ->Coltrane feel,nice sax flourishes,more great rhythm guitars ->13:45 good dissonant sax,band grooves->14:45 trumpet takes lead,band in full jazz mode->15:15 trumpet /Billy trade licks,Jer is flowing->wind down->16:45.I found this to be a nice window into the bands jazz personality.9/26 is similar in content,but has more atonal and dissonant sax playing. http://www.archive.org/details/gd1973-09-15.sbd-set2.levy.01077.sbeok.shnf
This post was modified by jerlouvis on 2011-08-14 18:31:25

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Poster: deadmax Date: Aug 14, 2011 12:54pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: September '73

I liked the 9/15 so that's why the 9/17 caused me to bite the inside of my mouth - on purpose! I mean, sheesh! But even in the 9/15 the honking and metal-twisting sounds add nothing to the music and, to me, take away.

But I do applaud the "half-assed" attempt. At least they tried.

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Poster: light into ashes Date: Aug 15, 2011 11:40am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: September '73

It was kind of "horns of the cheap," just rounding up a couple friends of Jerry's... (They were actually playing in Doug Sahm's band, opening for the Dead on that tour.)

There doesn't seem to be as much outright squealing on 9/15...the Truckin' jam is done differently than on the 17th, and the Eyes seemed more jammed-out. Also the Let It Grow - I think this is the song where the horns fit in the best, it's more natural for them. (Their chord backing in Eyes just didn't seem to fit well with the song's bounce.) Let It Grow is quite good considering it was new to the Dead as well (they only started playing it on 9/7), and the horn players would have been familiar with it since they'd also worked on it in the studio.

9/15 has an interesting extended outro to Let It Grow - there's a spot where the band lays back & lets the horns take over for a bit, there's some fluting & yelping that reminds me of Charles Lloyd in the 1/14/67 Schoolgirl; then it ends with a nice extended Jerry/Keith space. Though the Dead had somewhat rigid second-sets on this tour, at times like this it feels like they're deliberately dawdling & seeing what comes next, rather than heading for the next song.
The horns pretty much stay out of Stella Blue except for some quiet chord support at the end...and they don't add that much "cajun rhythm" to Sugar Magnolia, nor do they hurt much.

Martin Fierro later said, "The deadheads hated me. They really didn't want to hear horns with the Grateful Dead... The fans didn't like the horns so the Dead finally said 'Fuck it!' But we had a great time... We rehearsed, but we didn't have written arrangements, we had head arrangements. Sometimes it sounded pretty good and sometimes it was a little rough."

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Poster: jerlouvis Date: Aug 15, 2011 2:27pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: September '73

For the record Truckin' and Sugar Mag are unlistenable due to the horns participation,where on Let It Grow they feel organic and very in the flow.The flute on WRS Prelude lends a nice delicate counterpoint and the horns along with the vocal on LIG create a an interesting blend.The band sounds inspired by the presence of the horns on this version and each member stands out at some point,there is some strange yodeling/vocal weirdness and interesting Jerry/Keith interplay.I thought the quiet contribution of the horns on Stella Blue was a natural and the rollicking vibe they added on Let Me Sing Your Blues Away a perfect fit,it's a shame Keith mangled the vocal on that so badly they stopped doing it,Jerry should have taken over the vocal,that song had such a great slinky groove.
This post was modified by jerlouvis on 2011-08-15 21:27:00

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Poster: light into ashes Date: Aug 14, 2011 11:03am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: September '73

9/17 is one of the shows where the horns play throughout the set.
I had to laugh during that Eyes, it was pretty funny. So I guess I find the horns more amusing than enjoyable there...
It does add a different flavor, though. The horns kind of fit in well in Let Me Sing Your Blues Away, a song apparently written in imitation of the Band's style. And they're also very present in Let It Grow, with the same kind of freakout towards the end, kind of an odd mesh since the Dead are still chugging away in their normal style. There's not really a whole lot of Jerry/Martin interaction it seems, it's like they're on two different tracks. Indeed, one notable thing about the September tour is that the horns were put in very "structured" songs, when you'd think they'd shine a bit more in a more freeform jam like the Other One where there would be some real interplay with the band.
The horns are in Truckin' too, doing more synchronized riffs - though I'm not sure if there was much rehearsal at all! Truckin' caught my ear because Keith is playing organ instead of piano - very unusual & different.

Someone like jerlouvis would be better able to say whether Martin's good in his style or not; for me the blend is interesting but not something I want to hear a whole lot.